Hickory Branch

[David Holt]

So a buddy of mine has a tree cutting service and I asked him a while back to let me know if he came upon any Hickory trees.  He called me today and asked me to help him cut down a tree that he was going to cut up for fire wood.  This tree was beautiful.  The base was about 2.5 feet across and the first brach wasn't till about 8 feet up.  After we cut the tree down I inspected the growth rings and they were HUGE!  I could have got about 6 staves frome this trunk.  He started to cut the tree into logs from the top and started putting the ropes and tools away.  When I came back to the tree he had already cut the entire tree up into LOGS!  I was mortified!  He looked at me and said that I could have any of the branchs that I wanted then I remembered that I had told him that you could make bows out of straight branchs also.  So I bit my tounge and picked out a branch that was straight for about 6 feet and 8 inches across.  So my question now is:

should I split the branch into staves or just seal the ends and let it dry?

Will cutting kerfs into it help to keep the splits straight?

I've only made board bows so far so not sure how to proceed with a tree much less a branch....

[John Scifres]

I've cut trees that weren't 8".  I'd split it and take the bark off, get it to rough bow dimensions and less than 3/4" thick and it'll dry in a month.  You shouldn't have to kerf it.  Hickory splits really straight and pretty easy.

[Pat B]

Try to determine the compression side(bottom) and the tension side(top) as the limb grew. Keep them separate or the stave will get squirrely on you. With some woods like vine maple the compression wood is what you want to build a bow...I think.  Try both and make your own determination.